{"id":20705,"date":"2023-07-27T07:25:28","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T07:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skylight.gr\/?p=20705"},"modified":"2023-07-27T07:25:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T07:25:58","slug":"downes-braide-association-announce-release-of-new-album-celestial-songs-on-sept-8-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/2023\/07\/27\/downes-braide-association-announce-release-of-new-album-celestial-songs-on-sept-8-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"DOWNES BRAIDE ASSOCIATION Announce Release of New Album ‘Celestial Songs’ on Sept. 8, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Downes Braide Association (DBA) announce the release of their long-awaited new album Celestial Songs<\/em> on 8th September. Following their previous critically acclaimed studio albums, Celestial Songs<\/em> will be the fifth DBA studio collaboration for Geoff Downes (keyboards) and multi award-winning songwriter Chris Braide (vocals). The album will be released in 3 formats: CD, 2LP and Box Set.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DBA also launched the first single from the album \u201cClear Light\u201d \u2013 listen to the song and watch the video here: <\/strong>https:\/\/youtu.be\/FvV6p35GOnU<\/a>

Celestial Songs<\/em> marks another musical leap forward for DBA. \u201cAs we were writing the songs for the album, they started to become thematic in emotion and feeling,\u201d says Chris Braide, \u201cmore classic rock than the predecessor \u2018Halcyon Hymns\u2019. The songs were about life and death, time, love, nostalgia, spirituality. Very DBA in fact.\u201d

\u201cI know that Chris really likes the depth of chord sequences that I put together,\u201d Geoff Downes explains. \u201cThis particular collection just really grabbed him and he got it up and running very, very quickly, so I was really pleased about that. There\u2019s a lot of variety on the album, too. We were aiming to get quite a bit more dynamics into this album because there were some very quiet pastoral moments. I think it makes it a more interesting listen for people to get their heads around and enjoy. I hope people will appreciate it and get behind it, not just the songwriting and vocals but the overall instrumentation and musicianship is very high on this album.\u201d

The high quality of musicianship is because of the exceptional core of musicians with which DBA have surrounded themselves including Andy Hodge (bass), Dave Bainbridge (former Iona guitarist and keyboardist), and Marc Almond who adds a brief vocal appearance.

\u201cIt\u2019s very useful having this core of musicians that are ready to enhance our music,\u201d agrees Geoff Downes. \u201cAndy Hodge is very much an integral part of this unit. When we send him stuff to play, he has incredible feeling and creates a more interesting bass part than we could have thought of ourselves. Having Dave Bainbridge with us has added another dimension to the DBA-sound and I\u2019m very happy with that. Dave\u2019s got his own stamp and that\u2019s something that we appreciate having on board. Marc Almond makes a cameo appearance on \u2018The Darker Side Of Fame\u2019 and Marc and Chris\u2019s voices blend really well. It tells a story, a theme that a lot of people, and a lot of musicians, can relate to \u2013 certainly musicians that have had any kind of success. The lyric is very poignant, whilst you have all the glory, the accolades and the adulation, it can go away and you\u2019re left with nothing. It reflects life in general, I think, as people go through all kinds of ups and downs throughout their careers and throughout their lives.\u201d

The closing track cements DBA\u2019s prog credentials as Chris Braide explains, \u201cWhat happens to love when we die? \u2018Beyond The Stars\u2019 was a tune that began in 2015 and really shaped the way the artwork was to develop. Something bigger than us, something astral and heavenly, it grew from a 3-minute ditty to an 11-minute epic. That\u2019s what the song \u2018Beyond The Stars\u2019 is really asking. \u2018Celestial Songs\u2019 was a title we came up with in 2020 and Roger (Dean) made it manifest in his wonderful sleeve painting. A beautiful, heavenly, rainbow sky full of stars. DBA\u2019s music has always been about the big questions, the beauty of love and the tragedy of loss, but always with hope, I suppose. \u2018Celestial Songs\u2019 is the latest chapter in that series. I hope people enjoy listening to the album as much as we enjoyed writing it and making it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can pre-order all formats of\u00a0Celestial Songs<\/em>\u00a0here:<\/strong>
CD version:\u00a0https:\/\/www.cherryred.co.uk\/product\/downes-braide-association-celestial-songs-cd-edition\/<\/a>
2LP version:\u00a0https:\/\/www.cherryred.co.uk\/product\/downes-braide-association-celestial-songs-vinyl-edition\/<\/a>
Box set version:\u00a0https:\/\/www.cherryred.co.uk\/product\/downes-braide-association-celestial-songs-deluxe-12-box-set-edition\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celestial Songs<\/em> Track Listing:<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Look What You Do (6.17)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Clear Light (5.00)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Keep On Moving (6.36)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Darker Side Of Fame (3.56)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Hey Kid (3.28)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Will To Power (6.23)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  7. Heart Shaped Hole (9.06)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  8. Dear Petra (3.56)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  9. On The Run (5.09)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  10. Goodbye To You (Sister Shame) (7.30)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  11. Beyond The Stars (10.19)
    (Total running time: 67.40)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n



    All tracks written by Chris Braide and Geoff Downes except \u201cKeep On Moving\u201d (Chris Braide\/Francis Dunnery\/ Geoff Downes) and \u201cGoodbye To You (Sister Shame)\u201d (Chris Braide\/Andy Partridge\/Geoff Downes)Produced by Chris Braide and Geoff Downes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    About Downes Braide Association<\/strong>
    Downes Braide Association was formed as a studio-based project by Geoff Downes and Chris Braide and has previously produced four studio albums: Pictures Of You<\/em> (2012), Suburban Ghosts<\/em> (2015), Skyscraper Souls<\/em> (2017) and Halcyon Hymns<\/em> (2021) and a live album Live In England <\/em>(2019). The project draws on Downes\u2019 and Braide\u2019s rich musical heritage to create a delightfully accessible brand of progressive rock.
    Keyboard wizard Geoff Downes was thrust into the limelight with the worldwide success of Video Killed The Radio Star<\/em> in 1979. The single topped the charts in 16 countries for The Buggles duo of Geoff and Trevor Horn (vocals, bass guitar). They briefly joined prog legends YES before Downes became a founder member of the supergroup Asia with YES guitarist Steve Howe, ELP drummer Carl Palmer and the late John Wetton (vocals, bass guitar).

    The Wetton-Downes composition \u201cHeat Of The Moment\u201d became a world-wide hit in 1982 heralding many years of success for Asia with their FM radio-friendly brand of rock. Downes later rejoined YES in 2011 and remains with the band alongside Steve Howe.

    British singer-songwriter-pianist Chris Braide has recently returned to UK shores after many years based in California. He enjoys enormous success writing and producing music for film scores, advertising campaigns and working closely with artists including Sia, Lana Del Rey, Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Paloma Faith, Britney Spears and Marc Almond. 

    An Ivor Novello award-winner and Grammy-nominated, Braide has recently won a BMI Pop Award in Los Angeles for co-writing Sia\u2019s Unstoppable, her eighth US Top 40 hit after making a surprise, and long, rise to the top having been released in 2016, becoming the biggest selling single in the USA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For more information:<\/strong>Twitter: Downes Braide Association.  @TheRealDBAMusicFacebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/downesbraide\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    www.christopherbraide.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    www.geoffdownes.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Downes Braide Association (DBA) announce the release of their long-awaited new album Celestial Songs on 8th September….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,2],"tags":[1450,125],"class_list":["post-20705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-news","category-news","tag-downes-braide-association","tag-prog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20708,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20705\/revisions\/20708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}